Maggot was rescued on 3rd August 2024
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British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) hotline received a telephone call on the 3rd August 2024 from a member of the public who was concerned about a very young seal pup on the beach at Porthtowan.
The area coordinator arranged for local volunteer marine mammal medics to check on the seal. Anthea, one of the medics, said "A whitecoat pup was reported on Porthtowan in the morning about 9:30am. I arrived just as it was heading in to the sea having hauled itself all the way down the beach - only one trail of flipper marks were seen. Jules and Cat then arrived and we headed to Lushington (West of Porthtowan) to see if we could see the pup or mum. Mum was reported by surfers to have been hanging around there in the morning and then an adult seal was seen at sea about 11:30am. No sign of the pup."
Anthea continues "All three of us were about to leave the beach after no sighting when a new sighting was reported - this time over at Flat Rocks, Wheal Charlotte - East of Porthtowan. Jules and Cat went to monitor. I joined them monitoring as the tide came in - we left the area around 1-1.30am to avoid tidal cut off and watched the pup from a distance until it was covered by the tide. Hoping it would rest in the cave or high up the beach where it was quiet we all headed home. At 2.40pm I received a message from the lifeguards that the pup was back on Porthtowan and they´d reported it again to BDMLR. The tide was coming in and the beach was getting extremely busy. Another Callout for medics went out - Chris, Cat and I attended and monitored. It was decided with the area coordinator, Dan, to uplift to the Cornish Seal Sanctuary".
| | Photos credit (below) : Anthea Hawtrey-Collier - BDMLR
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The first pup, a grey female whitecoat seal pup has been named "Maggot". Following an assessment by the Sanctuary´s expert vets at Head & Head, she was found to have a small ulcer in her left eye and still had her umbilicus attached. For a pup so young, the animal care team´s concern is always an umbilical infection, so the vets prescribed a short course of antibiotics and daily cleaning of Maggot´s umbilicus to ensure it stays as clean as possible.
Maggot is being fed a blended fish soup every 4 hours to keep up the level of feeding that her mum would have provided, but even so, it is impossible for the team to emulate the nutrient rich and calorie dense milk that ensures pups are able to put on around 1.5kg a day up to their weaning at around 17-21 days. Maggot has a long rehab in front of her, but the Sanctuary team will make every effort to give Maggot a second chance. She currently weighs 14.8kg.
These photos below were taken the next morning (4th August 2024) in the isolation area of the hospital.
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Update - 11th August 2024 : Maggot has started to moult. This means he is beginning to loose her whitecoat in the last day or so and it will be replaced with his waterproof, adult coat. She is getting a lot more stable with his weight and the team are now reducing the amount of fish soup and transitioning him to fish. He seems to be doing really well with his first step in rehabilitation.
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Update - 23rd August 2024 : Maggot is slowing putting on weight and being introduced to fish. She currently weighs 15.7kg. These photos were taken on the 23rd of August 2024 in the hospital.
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Update - 29th August 2024 : Maggot has now been moved into the main area of the hospital so she can have a swim and learn to eat fish in her new enclosure. It will not be too long before Maggot will be moved to the outside nursery pools for her next stage of rehabilitation. Click here to read her press release.
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Update - 8th September 2024 : Maggot has now graduated from the hospital and is now in the outside pools down on-site for her next stage of rehabilitation. She is doing really well practicing her swimming.
Maggot´s flipper tag ID number is SL303 (yellow).
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Update - 16th September 2024 : Maggot currently weighs 20kg. These photos were taken on 16th of September 2024 in nursery pool 3.
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Update - 29th September 2024 : Maggot is slowly putting on weight. These photos were taken on 28th of September 2024.
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Update - 5th October 2024 : The animal care team are really pleased with Maggot´s rehabilitation. It will not be too long before Maggot is ready to be returned home once she reaches 30+kg in weight. These photos below were taken on 28th of September 2024.
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Update - 20th October 2024 : Maggot has now fully recovered and is at the perfect weight of 30+kg, ready to thrive back in the wild! She will be released in the coming weeks.
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On 29th of October 2024 the Cornish Seal Sanctuary released their first 2 pups of the 2024/25 rescue season. Each rescued seal pup is weighed every week to find out who has reached the ideal target weight of 30+kg. Maggot along with Mary were weighed and both were over 30kg, so were ready to be released back into the wild. They had completed their rehabilitation and it was time for them to go home.
Maggot and Mary were loaded into the back of a 4x4 vehicle from the rehabilitation pool and driven the short distance to Perranuthnoe beach.
It was such a beautiful early cold autumn´s morning as we watched the seal pups being released. We all wished them good luck and waved with tears in our eyes. Click here to see a selection of photos.
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First rescued pups of the season head home with GPS tracking - a SWE first!
| The Cornish Seal Sanctuary are excited to announce that it has released the first two rehabilitated seal pups of the season. After months of care and rehabilitation, Mary and Maggot have both been returned to the wild, but this time with a special mission!
Marking a new milestone in the Sanctuary´s history, the pups have been fitted with specialist GPS tracking equipment. This innovative step will provide valuable insights into the pups´ movements and behaviours as they return to the sea.
The study, which is first of its kind in Southwest England, will see 15 Grey seal pups being issued with the tags to examine their at-sea behaviour.
The Cornish Seal Sanctuary is working alongside Dr Luis Huckstadt, senior lecturer at the University of Exeter as he leads this exciting pilot study.
Click here to read the press release.
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